The 2024 NFCA Convention closed out Day 3 at the The Hyatt Regency in Dallas, Texas, highlighted by a trio of Hall of Fame inductions and the announcement of four who will be added a year from now.

Batting leadoff at the NFCA’s premier event, NFCA President and Missouri head coach Larissa Anderson welcomed those in attendance and kicked the night off by honoring the Hall of Famers in attendance with the NFCA’s traditional Hall of Fame March.

NFCA Past President and Northwestern head coach Kate Drohan emceed the induction of the three welcomed into the Hall of Fame this week.

Last December at the 2023 NFCA Convention in Louisville, Ky, the three college coaching greats of Connie Clark, the former Univ. of Texas head coach; Gretta Melsted, the Augustana University head coach, and Tim Walton, the current Univ. of Florida head coach, were announced and today their spots in the Hall of Fame was made official.

The three newest additions bring the NFCA Hall of Fame total to 99 members.

*** Click HERE to see the list of all the NFCA Hall of Fame members (starting with the year prior, 2023, and going back to the first class in 1991).

Additionally, the night saw the announcements of the four who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame next year on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025.

At the conclusion of the Friday evening event, NFCA Vice President for Awards and Arkansas head coach Courtney Deifel announced the Class of 2025:

• former University of Georgia head coach Lu Harris-Champer,
• Kutztown University head coach Judy Lawes,
• University of Texas at Tyler head coach Mike Reed,
• VA Glory founder and owner Suzy Willemssen.

This quartet will be bring the Hall’s total to 103 in a year from now.

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Here are the extensive bios of all three of Friday night’s inductees courtesy of the NFCA…

Connie Clark

Over the course of her legendary career at the helm of the Texas softball program, Clark posted an 873-401-3 (.685) overall record and led the Longhorns to five Women’s College World Series appearances, including the 1998 squad that became youngest program to ever reach the WCWS after earning the opportunity in just the program’s second-ever season.

In 22 seasons under Clark, the Longhorns appeared in 19 NCAA Regionals, while earning four Big 12 regular season and tournament championships.

The three-time Big 12 Coach of the Year mentored the following list of accomplished players:

• 105 All-Big 12 Conference selections,
• 74 NFCA All-Region selections,
• 29 NFCA All-Americans,
• seven Big 12 Freshmen of the Year,
• five Big 12 Pitchers of the Year,
• two Big 12 Players of the Year,
• three USA Softball Collegiate Players of the Year,
• two Honda Awards for Softball.

Additionally, Clark coached nine national and junior national team members, including Cat Osterman (2004, 2008, 2020) and Christa Williams (1996, 2000) who won Olympic Gold Medals.

With her induction, it marks the fifth different Hall of Fame that Clark is a member of: Arizona Softball Foundation (2005), NJCAA (2006), Cal State Fullerton Athletics (2009), Central Arizona Junior College (2010) and NFCA (2024).

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Gretta Melsted

One of the most successful and respected coaches in Division II softball, Gretta Melsted coached her 18^th season as the head softball coach at Augustana in 2024 and had a tremendous year, leading the team to a 50-15 overall record (.769 winning percentage) and a 27-1 record in conference.

Additionally, the Vikings were a perfect 15-0 at home and made it to the NCAA Div. II Softball Championship in May which was held in Orlando, Fla.

Melsted has guided Augustana to 12 NCAA Tournament appearances, including winning the 2019 NCAA DII National Championship.

In Oct. 2018, Melsted was named to the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Board of Directors, where she will officially begin a three-year tenure in January of 2019.

A native of Albert Lea, Minn., Melsted was the head softball coach at Culver-Stockton in Canton, Mo., for three seasons before coming to Augustana.

She twice took the Wildcats to appearances in the NAIA Region 5 Tournament, finishing third in 2004.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in history at Carleton and a master’s in education administration from William Woods. She played basketball and softball at Carleton and holds the school record for runs scored in a season (36 in 1997).

She was a two-time recipient of the Ele Hanson Award, one of two athletic honors presented annually to female student-athletes at Carleton.

Melsted and her husband, Dan Van Schepen, are the parents of two sons, Matthew and Jacob.

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Tim Walton

Tim Walton has established Florida softball as a national powerhouse as the 2025 year will mark his 20th year at the helm of the Gators squad.

Entering the 2025 season, Walton has tallied a 980-238 (.805) record in 19 seasons as Florida’s head coach and 1,103-302 (.785) in 22 seasons overall.

In 2024, Florida returned to the Women’s College World Series for the 12th time and earned its sixth SEC Tournament championship, rolling up 54 wins.

The Gators earned extensive recognition within the Southeastern Conference as Jocelyn Erickson earned SEC Player of the Year honors and Keagan Rothrock added SEC Freshman of the Year accolades.

Five Gators earned first-team All-SEC honors in 2024, including Erickson, Kendra Falby, Korbe Otis, Skylar Wallace and Reagan Walsh, while Rothrock added second-team recognition.

Erickson and Falby also earned SEC All-Defensive Team honors.

Walton reached a historic milestone during the Gators 2022 campaign as he became the second fastest head coach to reach 1,000 career NCAA Division I softball victories with 2-1 (9 inning) win at LSU on May 1.

In addition, Walton led the Gators to its 11th overall Women’s College World Series appearance after the Orange & Blue defeated No.3-seed Virginia Tech in Blacksburg during the NCAA Super Regional round. In 2021, Walton led the program to a Southeastern Conference leading ninth regular season championship.

During the 2019 season, the Gators became back-to-back SEC Tournament Champions for the second time in program history and Walton navigated the program through a shortened 2020 campaign due to COVID-19 with a 23-4, 3-0 SEC record and a No. 7 national ranking.

With an incredible record of 926-223 (.806) at Florida, the five-time SEC Coach of the Year has led the Orange and Blue to 364 school records and numerous other SEC records, and his squads have earned various firsts for the Gator softball program.

With back-to-back national titles in 2014 and 2015, Walton’s Gators are one of only four teams to have achieved the feat in consecutive seasons.

The five-time SEC Coach of the Year recipient, has led his squads to:

• 18 NCAA Regional appearances,
• 15 Super Regionals,
• 12 Women’s College World Series berths,
• eight SEC Regular Season Championships,
• six SEC Tournament Championships.

Under Walton’s tutelage, Gator softball student-athletes have earned 52 NFCA All-American honors, 79 All-SEC honors, two USA Softball Player of the Year recipients, three Honda Award winners, 13 SEC Player & Pitcher of the Year honorees, two NFCA Players of the Year and one NFCA Freshman of the Year.

The Gators have not only excelled on the field but in the classroom as well under Walton.

Since 2006, Florida student-athletes have achieved 23 College Sports Communicators (CoSIDA) Academic All-American honors, 191 appearances on the SEC Academic Honor Roll and 79 SEC Academic Honor Roll First-Year recipients.

Prior to arriving at Florida, he took Wichita State to the NCAA Tournament in 2005 where his team finished with a school single-season record 46 wins (46-18). After three seasons with the Shockers he amassed a record of 123-64.

Walton has been a part of national championship teams as a baseball player, an assistant softball coach and a head softball coach.

Outside the collegiate ranks, Walton has continuously prepared his student-athletes for success. Numerous Gators have gone on to play professionally and 15 players have been selected to various national teams including the United States, Puerto Rico and Mexico.

After graduating from Oklahoma with a degree in history, Walton played in the Philadelphia Phillies organization from 1995-97.

Walton is married to the former Samantha Rhoten, who was a basketball player at Oral Roberts. The couple has two sons, Brooks and Palmer, and a daughter, Camden.

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Here are the bios of the four coaches announced Friday evening who will be inducted in December 2025…

Lu Harris-Champer, Georgia

Lu Harris-Champer, who retired after the 2021 season, is the architect of Georgia softball, building the Bulldogs into a nationally-recognized, championship caliber program. Over her 17 years in Athens, Harris-Champer steered UGA to 20 straight NCAA Tournament appearances, two Southeastern Conference (SEC) championships, one SEC tournament crown, 11 NCAA Super Regionals, and five trips to the Women’s College World Series, including three trips in the last five seasons of her career.

Harris-Champer was 959-363 in her time at Georgia, mentoring 30 NFCA All-Americans, 77 All-SEC honorees, 76 NFCA All-Region recognitions, one SEC Player of the Year, two SEC Pitchers of the Year and one SEC Freshman of the Year. Prior to Georgia, she guided Southern Miss to two WCWS appearances and steered Nicholls State to 94 wins and a pair of Regional berths, finishing with 1,168-432-1 record (25 seasons).

Judy Lawes, Kutztown University

Judy Lawes heads into her 38^th season leading the Kutztown University softball program. She holds a record of 1,132-645-2, ranking fourth among active Division II head coaches and is ninth overall heading into the 2025 season. The Bears have registered 35 winning seasons during her time in Kutztown, including a school-record 52 in 2012 and six more with 40-plus victories.

A nine-time PSAC Coach of the Year, Lawes has guided the Bears to 23 PSAC playoff appearances, nine division titles, and two tournament championships. They have reached the NCAA Tournament 22 times, winning three Atlantic Region crowns and playing in two National Championships, finishing as the national runner-up in 2013 and national semifinalist in 2022. Under her tutelage, 13 Bears have earned NFCA All-America honors and 76 more have earned NFCA All-Region recognition

Mike Reed, University of Texas at Tyler

From starting the UT Tyler softball program in 2005, to leading it to an NCAA Division III National Championship in 2016 and an NCAA Division II National Championship in 2024, head coach Mike Reed has guided the Patriots to an 814-151 record and 14 NCAA national tournament appearances. Reed recently matched the legendary Sue Enquist as the all-time winningest softball coach across all levels of NCAA softball with a career winning percentage of (.835) in 23 seasons. 

He owns the second-highest all-time win percentage among Division III coaches, coaching 18 of his 23 seasons at the Division III level, and is a nine-time American Southwest Conference Coach of the Year, and eight-time NFCA Regional Coach of the Year. He has helped develop 37 All-Americans, 112 All-Region and 182 all-conference selections and has led the UT Tyler program to the NCAA World Series in 10 of the 14 years since the Patriots became postseason eligible in Division III.

Suzy Willemssen, VA Glory

Suzy Willemssen, who has over 1,300 career wins at the high school and travel ball level, is the founder and owner of 18u Gold and the recently-retired head coach at Bishop O’Connell High School (Va.) and the former Lee High School (Va.) head coach. Her vision of Purpose Driven Softball started with the Glory in 2010 with the organization growing into 20 teams in Virginia and the upper Midwest. Eight years ago, Willemssen started the annual Strikeout Cancer Camp & Tournament, which has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Children’s National Hospital and Cancer Research.

On the field, the five-time Virginia Independent Schools Athletics Association (VISAA) Coach of the Year has guided her high school programs to five state championships and has also earned coach’s honors through the NFCA, Washington Post, WCAC and Pigskin Club of D.C. She is a member of the Virginia USSSA Softball Hall of Fame and is the inaugural Triple Crown Sports Joan Joyce Award winner in 2022.